ATS also co-chairs the TIIDE Model Communities Project. “Model communities” represent those communities wherein the relationship between the emergency care community and the public health community are well established and well practices. Characteristics include:

• Strong medical oversight in both public health and emergency care
• A desire and an effort to educate both emergency care and public health providers about each others’ role
• Recognition of the role of and a commitment to developing and maintaining relationships between leadership through regular meetings, teambuilding exercises, and planning
• Bringing community stakeholders (businesses, clinics, universities, etc.) into the planning process
• Creating disaster plans that are developed locally, involve public health and emergency care, and that are repeatedly drilled
• Aggressively pursuing and securing funding.

In 2006, seven communities were selected out of twenty-five nominees. They were:

• Boston, Massachusetts
• Clark County Health District, Las Vegas, Nevada
• Eau Claire County, Wisconsin
• Erie County, New York
• Livingston County, New York
• Louisville, Kentucky
• Monroe County, New York

Call for Model Communities

The American Trauma Society, in cooperation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), through its Terrorism Injuries: Information Dissemination and Exchange (TIIDE) Project, is examining the relationship between the Emergency Care Community, which includes EMS and the trauma care system, and Public Health in relation to preparedness for mass casualty incidents. The Project is seeking examples of "model communities" in which the relationship between the emergency care community and public health is well-established and operationally functional in terms of its capacity to respond to events that might produce large numbers of injuries.

For information about this call for model communities and information on how to apply, please visit this CDC website: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/masscasualties/callmodelcommunities.asp. For further information about the model communities program, and to read descriptions of the 2006 model communities, please see Model Communities Link EMS and Public Health.